6 Answers
6

studies, to me, means "studies, published in a peer reviewed journal". Not "I'm doing my language studies before bed."

Perhaps a less ambiguous tag can be used for this. I like @Gille's suggestion of reference-request. It doesn't have the ambiguity shortcomings of research (is the question asking about results of past research, or how to conduct research, etc)?

This is a good point. I think there should definitely be a better name for it.
– Alex A.Apr 5 '16 at 20:06

In an ideal world, wouldn't every answer cite studies? Perhaps some topics simply haven't been studied, but I'd think that any answer would benefit from one. So why call this out in a tag?
– Nathaniel is protestingApr 5 '16 at 20:07

@Nathaniel: I don't think it's fair to assume that all types of questions call for studies. "What is SRS?" doesn't need a study. "How do I test for the TOEFL?" doesn't need studies. Many questions, however, will need studies... and perhaps it an expectation can be built into the site, which would make such a tag meaningless.
– FlimzyApr 5 '16 at 20:10

@bilbo_pingouin: to me that, sounds like it's about the act of doing research. "How would I conduct an experiment to test X hypothesis?" seems like a candidate for [research] to me.
– FlimzyApr 5 '16 at 20:15

@bilbo_pingouin: Maybe, but might I suggest first a wiki tag entry, and see what happens? There are only 4 open questions with that tag presently, and they all fit my definition of the term. Can we leave things as they are unless/until a problem is truly shown to exist?
– FlimzyApr 5 '16 at 20:18

@Flimzy well I do find it ambiguous. But we might give it a bit of time...
– clem steredennApr 5 '16 at 20:20

@Flimzy it'll only continue to get worse, best to fix it while the questions are in the single digits
– QuillApr 6 '16 at 1:25

@Quill: "Continue to get worse" implies an existing problem. What evidence do you have that the tag is being misused now?
– FlimzyApr 6 '16 at 6:13

Many Stack Exchange sites use reference-request for this, I think it's the de facto standard and it would be somewhat confusing for people who visit multiple sites to have a different tag name here.
– Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'Apr 6 '16 at 21:07

[scientific-research] is ambiguous, but in a different way. "How can I conduct an experiment to test X hypothesis?" would be appropriate for a [scientific-research] tag. I like @Gille's suggestion to use [reference-request].
– FlimzyApr 7 '16 at 5:40